Golf-starved Brooklynites have something to rejoice this holiday season. The four-year renovation of Dyker Beach Golf Course's storied clubhouse is finally finished. The clubhouse will open for business in January of 2009.

The elegant brick-and-slate roofed clubhouse sits at the Cooper Avenue and 86th Street entrance to the sprawling, 200-acre Dyker Heights Golf Course. The serene, wooded course and its location on New York's Lower Bay, with views of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, has made it the most popular of New York's five municipal golf courses for more than a century.

Today, the course is run by the American Golf Corporation (AMI), which funded the $15 million renovation. During the construction period, the golf course remained opened and AMI ran its clubhouse operation out of a rented trailer. AMI representative Matthew Silver said people will soon see the long wait was well worth it.

"Now that the clubhouse is built, the golf course will be a major destination that people from all over New York will come to see in Brooklyn," Silver said.

The new clubhouse has a first-class pro shop stocked with top-of-the-line clothing, clubs, and other gear, as well as inexpensive on-site valet parking. But the new clubhouse wasn't designed with just golfers in mind, said Silver.

The clubhouse now also boasts a variety of other rooms designed to accommodate any large-scale event, from weddings to corporate meetings. "Whatever the event may be we can do it and do it well," Silver said.

A preview tour of the clubhouse revealed a Grand Ballroom large enough to seat 300 people with a movable wooden dance floor and bar, a Bridal Suite room, and a Great Room for corporate conferences. Each thickly carpeted room is decked out with chandeliers, potted plants, and classical paintings.

A refurbished restaurant at the clubhouse, to be called the Dyker Beach Golf Course Grill Room, will feature local food and Brooklyn-brewed beers. Silver said AMI hopes the restaurant becomes a neighborhood fixture for golfers and non-golfers alike.

"We want the Grill Room to be a local place where people can come to eat," said Silver.

AMI spokesperson James Reynolds said the golf course's accessibility by car, bus, and subway makes it the perfect New York City getaway.

"I think a lot of people are really excited it’s opening so they can come in and see what we did," said Reynolds. "They'll be proud it's in their own community.